- Professionalism: Maintain a professional demeanour in all interactions. Dress appropriately and adhere to workplace norms. If unsure on standards, ask your host.
- Respect: Treat all colleagues, supervisors, and clients with respect and courtesy. Embrace diversity and foster an inclusive environment. Treat others in the way you would like to be treated.
- Confidentiality: Protect sensitive information. Do not disclose confidential details without permission; ask your supervisor if uncertain. Do not take photos at your internship and publish them without prior permission from your host.
- Induction: Ensure you ask for and understand all relevant information, including policies upon induction to your internship. If you are uncertain, ask your host.
- Compliance: Follow all policies, procedures, and safety regulations that the host organisations requires of you, including their Code of Conduct. Familiarise yourself with and adhere to relevant laws and guidelines.
- Representation of UWA: As you are representing UWA during your internship, you will need to follow UWA’s code of conduct.
- Integrity: Be honest in your communications and actions. Avoid conflicts of interest and report any unethical behaviour. If you are unsure on how to handle a situation, immediately contact your Internship Adviser.
- Collaboration: Work collaboratively with team members. Be open to constructive criticism and contribute positively to group efforts.
- Learning Attitude: Approach your internship with a willingness to learn. Ask questions and seek opportunities for growth.
- Service hours: Complete 100 hours of community service with the appointed organisation, to the best of the intern’s abilities.
- Responsibility: Complete tasks on time and communicate proactively about any challenges with your Internship Host and your Internship Adviser. Take ownership of your work and seek feedback.
- Proactivity: If you have no assigned tasks, proactively seek to assist your supervisor or any other colleagues.
- Punctuality: Arriving on time, means that you arrive slightly prior to your start time, so you can get yourself setup and commence with your tasks on time. If you are running late, contact your host immediately and let them know when they can expect you to arrive.
- Missed hours: If you cannot attend your internship as scheduled due to unexpected and unforeseen circumstances, contact your host immediately and discuss when you can make up the missed hours. If you cannot get hold of them on the phone, ensure to send an email and cc to internships@mccuskercentre.uwa.edu.au. All interns need to complete 100 hours at their placement.
- Timely completion of unit requirements: Ensure that you complete your assignments for the unit within the specified timeframes.
- Seminar attendance: Attend all seminars in accordance with your timetable and ensure you arrive on time. Late arrivals won’t be permitted to attend the seminar and will need to attend a later seminar if there is space or to seek special consideration for an alternative assessment. Seminar attendance is taken via a QR code submission. Sharing the QR code with peers that are not present or submitting on someone else’s behalf will lead to an investigation regarding professional conduct.
- Permission for the McCusker Centre to contact the host: Acknowledge that the McCusker Centre may contact your host to verify timesheets or evaluations if concerns arise. Creating or amending documents is serious misconduct and also a criminal offence. Falsified documents will lead to an investigation regarding professional conduct and may be reported to the police.
- Responsiveness: Respond to phone calls, MS Teams calls and emails from your host or Internship Adviser in a timely manner.
- Focus: Dedicate your time to host tasks; university or personal assignments or tasks are not permitted.
- Acknowledgement of possibility of termination of internships: A placement can be terminated for various reasons and the McCusker Centre for Citizenship cannot guarantee that an alternative placement opportunity can be found.
- Competitive nature: The program's application process is highly competitive, and some applications might not be successful.
- Program purpose: The McCusker Centre Internship Program emphasises service to the community and differs from work experience or Work Integrated Learning. Please review our purpose on the website.
- Course compatibility: Interns have verified that they have space for a 6-point (elective) unit within their course or otherwise complete the unit as a Micro-credential with the UWA+ Program.
- Regional opportunities: Complete a Regional Travel Booklet, including a risk assessment and travel itinerary.
By following this code of conduct, you will help create a positive and productive internship environment.
Program requirements are detailed in the Handbook and the Internship Guide for Students. Once enrolled, this guide and LMS are your primary sources of unit information and internship progress.